entice

What it means

1. transitiveTo lure; to attract by arousing desire or hope.

   I enticed the little bear into the trap with a pot of honey.

   1 more example

   Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story. And, on top of all that, they are ornaments; they entice and intrigue and sometimes delight.

   2012 March 28, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2013, page 106

In a sentence

I enticed the little bear into the trap with a pot of honey.

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*teih₁-“to become hot, melt or to end”
2. Proto-Italic*tītjō“heating”
3. Vulgar Latin*intitiāre“I set on fire”
4. Old Frenchenticier“to stir up or excite”
5. Middle Englishenticen
6. Englishentice

From Middle English enticen, from Old French enticier (“to stir up or excite”), from a Vulgar Latin *intitiāre (“I set on fire”), from in- + titiō (“firebrand (tool)”), from Proto-Italic *tītjō (“heating”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *teih₁- (“to become hot, melt or to end”).